Sims' Birthday Weekend

This past weekend was not only Memorial Day Weekend.  It was also Sims' Birthday Weekend!  He officially turned 2 years old on Memorial Day, but we celebrated all weekend.  I can't possibly cover all the fun we had in one post, so expect a few posts on this.

We started our celebration on Saturday at the NC Zoo, where we had his party.  Most of the family was able to join us for Sims' first zoo experience.  Be prepared for picture overload!

The party started with lots of game stations, where the kids could have some free play time.  Sims had both of his cousins and one friend at the party.  They had plenty to keep them busy.

There was an educational part of the party, where everyone learned a little about the African animals.  It was interesting even for the adults.

Tickling Grand with an ostrich feather

Then they brought in an oppossum for everyone to oooh and aaaah over.

After that, it was time to eat!

The birthday boy definitely liked the cake and ice cream!  Once we were done, Sims opened gifts, then it was time to go back to the zoo.

I will share more pictures of the zoo and the rest of the weekend later this week.

Morning with Sims

Most mornings before work, I don't get a lot of time to play with Sims.  Jason feeds him breakfast and plays with him, while I am getting ready.  When Jason gets ready, I am busy getting lunch together and getting Sims ready.  On those special days when Sims wakes up extra early, I get a chance to play with him, too.  This morning was one of those mornings.  I even got a chance to take some pictures.

Please ignore the baby next to him.  Sims calls her, "Isla."

Playing "night-night."  He's really into pillows lately.

Making silly faces

Cheesy smile

Tickle Monster

I could get used to mornings like this.  Unfortunately, that means Jason would have to get up earlier everyday.  It's so much fun though!

Fun Walk

At lunch today, my fitness group participated in a Fun Run/Walk event on campus.  We wore costumes (mainly hat costumes) and did a 30 second dance in front of judges, as well as walking.  It was super silly but actually lots of fun.  We wore hats that represented the disciplines in which we work.  Mine was this:

This earned me the nickname Thunderbolt by some of my co-workers.  But the little bit of humiliation was worth it when our team won the Most Creative Costumes Award!

We represented Meteorology (obviously); Christmas tree farming; Parks, Recreation & Tourism; Fisheries & Wildlife; and Marine Science.  I think we will do it again next year, and we've already gotten some ideas of what to do differently then.  (Like not to wear red with the rest of the Wolfpack Nation.  We need to stand out more!)

Happy Birthday to Alex

Today is my brother's birthday, and it is a big one!  He is now THIRTY years old!  I can't believe it.  It makes me feel so old.

So to celebrate, I found a few photos of his past birthdays that I would like to share.  I hope he doesn't mind because he's so darn cute in them.

First Birthday

Second Birthday

Tenth (?) Birthday

Alex is a really great brother, who is definitely one of the funniest people I know.  It's been a great 30 years!  What did I do without him for those (almost) 5 years?  Life must have been pretty boring.

Happy Birthday, Alex!!!!

Busy Weekend Ending in a Fever

We had another busy weekend.  I had to work on Saturday, since it was graduation.  I got to wear all my cool academic regalia and hand out degrees to the undergraduates in our department.  Last year was the first group that I knew starting as freshmen, but this was the first group of students that I recruited then watched go all the way through the program.  That definitely made this a special graduation.  Even though I amstill having a hard time believing that these students have been here 4 years!  I still think of them as sophomores or juniors!  Time flies.

On Sunday afternoon, Sims' Sunday school class had an end of the year pool party.  This party was top-notch (with a heated outdoor pool)!  I think we have a couple of photos that I will share later.  I haven't even had time to look at them yet.

Sunday evening we got home from the party and got ready for bed.  Then we realized that Sims had a fever of 102.  He had so much fun at the party that we had no idea this was about to happen!

By this time, I also felt like I was coming down with a cold.  Yuck.

So Sims and I had a day off yesterday getting better and enjoying being together.  We played hockey (with his golf clubs and golf balls), built towers and tunnels (or "nunnels" in Sims-speak) for his train, read books and watched train videos on YouTube.  It was a fun-filled day, but I was thankful that Sims wasn't going full-speed.  Luckily, we both seem to be better today, so it's back to the grind.

Jumping, Hitting, Catching

Sims learns something new everyday.  Actually, he probably learns many new things everyday.  Some are just more obvious than others.  Lately there are 3 things that he can do that continue to amaze us. 

The first one is that he can jump.  High.  He's been able to jump for a while now (probably since he was 18 or 19 months old), but he has truly mastered it now.  His standing jumps are really high, and he loves to jump off the step into our sunken living room.

He loves to play with his golf clubs, and he is getting really good at hitting the ball.  He's learning to step back from the ball when he is too close.  He's even really good when hitting a moving ball.  After only a week and half of playing with the golf clubs, he has improved so much!

The big thing this week is that he is starting to catch the ball.  We have a small, soft football that he can catch about 75% of the time.  Considering we haven't seen him do that until this week, we are impressed.  And Sims is quite proud of himself, I must say!

Mother's Day Weekend

I had a lovely Mother's Day.  We spent the weekend in Charlotte with Jason's family.  Mom and Smith joined us for Sunday lunch, so Jason and I had both of our mothers with us!  Then we drove the almost 3 hours back home with a wide-awake child.  Talk about exhausting!

On Saturday, Jason and I went to the Wells Fargo Golf Championship.  We look forward to this every year.  Walking around the beautiful Quail Hollow course is so relaxing.  We both like to watch golf (we rarely get to play it anymore), but the people watching is also pretty great.  The pretty houses around the course don't hurt either.  We didn't take the wild man because we knew he would get loud at the wrong times.  We can't wait until he is old enough to go with us.

I hope all you mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Daredevil and Saturday activities

This past Saturday was a very laid-back day for us.  I am learning how to really use my fancy DSLR camera, so I took the camera around with me on Saturday only taking pictures in manual mode.  It is really helping me to figure out how to take better pictures and learn about the camera, but it also means that a lot of the picutres are junk.  I'll share some of the decent ones with you.

We went to the farmer's market in the morning where we bought fresh eggs and locally made lamb bratwurst (delicious!).  After Sims' nap, we went for a walk around the neighborhood.

The weather was so nice that we decided to head out to get gelato.

Then we went to a park that we have never visited.  I drive by it every day, so it was nice to check it out.  It was small, but there were very few people there.

Sims loved the slides the most.  He first started out on the small slide in Jason's lap.  He quickly began sliding down by himself.

It didn't take him long to want to go down the big slide.  All by himself.  This kid has no fear.

I think we were the ones holding him back in the beginning.  He seemed raring to go from the start.  What a daredevil!

Sims' First Baseball Game

On Friday night, we joined some friends to watch the Wolfpack baseball team play Maryland.  This was not only Sims' first baseball game, but it was actually the first time he attended a game of any sport!  It was also Jason's and my first Wolfpack baseball game.  We all had a wonderful time!

Our seats were great and cheap.  We were behind the net, which makes me feel a little safer but makes taking photos more difficult.

Sims watched the game for about an hour before getting antsy, which really amazed me.  We didn't really have any expectations for how he was going to be.  He seemed to like it enough that we will have to do this again!

The Wolfpack's mascot Mr. Wuf made an appearance.  He gave Sims a high five, and he's been talking about it ever since.

As we were leaving the game, a fire truck drove up.  We stopped to wave, and they turned on the lights and let Sims sit in the truck. 

The firefighters were so nice!  It was truly the icing on the cake of a great night!